Cong attack on Hazare reminds BJP of Emergency
New Delhi, August 14
Slamming the Congress for its attack on Anna Hazare, the BJP today accused the ruling party of creating an "Emergency-like" situation and trying to muffle the voices against corruption.

raising hurdles! Policemen unload barricades from a police vehicle in preparation for Anna Hazare’s hunger strike in New Delhi on Sunday. — AFP

Prez stresses on credibility of Parliament
New Delhi, August 14
On a day when the exchange of words between Gandhian Anna Hazare and the government became sharper, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil called for upholding the authority and credibility of institutions like Parliament.

People wade through rain water outside the Charbagh railway station
in Lucknow on Sunday. — PTI

3 Army docs get Sena Medals for thwarting terror attack in Kabul
New Delhi, August 14
Three doctors of the Army have been conferred with the Sena Medal for their acts of bravery in thwarting a terrorist attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul last year. Their names figure on the list of around 200 gallantry awards announced by the President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil on the eve of Independence Day today.

Army to cut litigation cases involving veterans
Chandigarh, August 14
In a proactive move to reduce litigation, the Army Headquarters (AHQ) has asked all army commands to ensure that contested litigation concerning retired personnel are withdrawn where the issue involved is well settled by previous
judgements.

Modernisation of armed forces top priority: Antony
New Delhi, August 14
Defence Minister AK Antony today asked the armed forces to “uphold the trust of the nation”. A few cases of corruption in the armed forces have come to light recently and this has created “a somewhat negative impact on the image in the public eye”, he said while reminding them that it was the responsibility of each one of them to perform their tasks “with complete devotion, fairness, honesty and truthfulness”.

Bhagat Singh executed illegally: Researcher
New Delhi, August 14
At a time when India is celebrating its Independence Day, a research paper
has shown that the much-acclaimed freedom fighter Shaheed Bhagat Singh was illegally detained, tried
and executed.

Jantar MantarPawar is a fighter
While the exact nature of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's medical condition remains a mystery, even ten days after she underwent a surgery abroad, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar does not shy away from talking about his ailment.

Highway blockade hits life in Manipur
Guwahati, August 14
The prices of essentials have hit the roof and scarcity of fuel and medicines have crippled life in
Manipur, which has been hit hard by another bout of blockade of arterial NH 39 and NH 53 by the Kuki tribe organisations demanding a separate district comprising the Sadar Hills areas in the Naga tribe-dominated Senapati district of the state.

CAG finds irregularities in MLA development fundsLucknow, August 14The people’s representatives sitting in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly are also not above board. Due to delayed submission of proposals by them, a sum of Rs 385.58 crore of their development funds remained unspent in the Personal Ledger Account
(PLA) at the close of each financial year.

SC: Forest owners entitled to relief on land acquisitionNew Delhi, August 14The Supreme Court has ruled that owners of forest land were entitled to compensation under the Kumaun and Uttarakhand Zamidari Abolition and Land Reforms
(KUZALR) Act, 1960, even if they were not earning any income from that.

Jagan way ahead of his rivals: SurveyHyderabad, August 14For YSR Congress Party President and India’s richest MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, caught in the eye of a storm over his alleged illegal assets, here is some good news.
According to the “State of the Nation” poll, commissioned by English news channel
CNN-IBN, Jagan is way ahead of his rivals in Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra regions of Andhra
Pradesh, which together account for 175 seats in the 294-member State Assembly.

Hi-tech radars to check bird hits
New Delhi, August 14To tackle the menace of birds flying around its bases and putting the fighter aircraft in danger, the Indian Air Force
(IAF) is now looking out for procuring sophisticated radars to monitor bird activity as an integral
part of its flight safety procedure.

Murder charge against ex-minister
Cornered, CPM left to fight case aloneKolkata, August 14Cornered politically over the arrest of Sushanta Ghose, a former minister and a powerful party leader in West Midnapore, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) now wants other Left parties to come forward and launch a massive agitation against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

UP scraps provision for restoration of acquired landLucknow, August 14The Uttar Pradesh state Assembly has passed a Bill to do away with the provision which allowed people to seek restoration of their acquired land if it remained unused for more than five years.

Alert sounded in Chhattisgarh
Raipur, August 14An alert was sounded across Chhattisgarh Sunday and security strengthened as the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) threatened to disrupt Independence Day functions Monday, police said.

BSF refurbishing Mi-17 helicopters for VIP useChandigarh, August 14The Border Security Force, the only Central Armed Police Force
(CAPF) under the home ministry to have an air wing, is refurbishing its Mi-17 helicopters for VIP use.
The upgradation of the helicopters into VIP configuration includes retrofitting a few executive “Maharaja class” seats with folding dining table as are used by airlines, additional less luxurious airline type seats both with and without tables, wall to wall carpeting and internal trimmings.

New Delhi, August 14
Slamming the Congress for its attack on Anna Hazare, the BJP today accused the ruling party of creating an "Emergency-like" situation and trying to muffle the voices against corruption.

"The Congress and its government wants to muffle the voices of those who are speaking against corruption. They should not shoot the messenger," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said. He alleged that the government was creating an "Emergency-like" situation. "The government had ordered a lathicharge on peaceful protesters at the Ramlila Ground. It has also unleashed atrocities on BJP protesters last week. The Congress' attitude reminds us of the Emergency when the Opposition’s voice was muffled. They had then called Jayprakash Narayan a fascist," Hussain said.

The Opposition party's statement came after Congress launched an attack on Team Anna, charging it with systematically attempting to bring instability in the country and insulting Parliament before which the Lokpal Bill has been brought.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari also sought a clarification from Hazare over the "serious findings" of Justice PB Sawant Commission against him and his trusts while contending that the ideological disposition of the Team Anna consists of "armchair fascists, overground Maoists, closet anarchists... lurking behind forces of Right reaction and funded by invisible donors whose links may go back a long way abroad".

Reacting to the criticism, the BJP demanded that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh clarify why their party leaders were using such language. Hussain alleged the Congress was fighting those who are against corruption instead of taking on the menace.

He asked why the government has "a problem with Hazare now after talking to civil society members for the past five months on the Lokpal issue". Asked if the BJP supported Hazare, Hussain said, "We stand behind every individual who is fighting against corruption".
— PTI

Hyderabad, August 14
Team Anna today said that they would approach the Supreme Court if the Delhi police takes action against the social activist and his supporters during their proposed indefinite fast from August 16.

"If they (Delhi Police) forcibly remove Anna Hazare and other agitators...definitely the matter will then go to the Supreme Court," member of Lokpal Bill joint drafting committee, Prashant Bhushan, told reporters after addressing a session on 'Corruption, Lokpal and Civil Society' here.

"If the government thinks the way in which it suppressed the fasting of Baba Ramdev (in June)... and if such a thing happens against Anna Hazare, then the country will witness protests on a mass-scale and ultimately this government may not be able to withstand such a storm," the noted lawyer warned.
— PTI

New Delhi, August 14
On a day when the exchange of words between Gandhian Anna Hazare and the government became sharper, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil called for upholding the authority and credibility of institutions like Parliament.

In her address to the nation on the eve of the 65th Independence Day, the President, in an apparent effort to reach out to Anna Hazare and his team, said there should be no effort consciously or unconsciously to erode the authority and credibility of institutions like Parliament. She, however, stressed upon the need for eradicating corruption in the country.

She also called upon the government to step up efforts to contain inflation and insulate the poor from its effects and also ensure that the benefits of growth reached the people below the poverty line.

The issue of price rise requires dedicated effort and must be addressed at the earliest to ensure that the poor are not affected by it, she said while adding that the government had taken several steps, including tightening of monetary regime by way of increasing interest rates, but still a lot more needed to be done.

In a reminder to Anna Hazare, who has been campaigning for a stronger Lokpal Bill for controlling corruption in the country, the President said: “There cannot be just one panacea or remedy to deal with it, but a system of transparency and accountability should be put in place at various levels and then effectively enforced.”

With the government accusing Anna of challenging the authority of Parliament, the President pointed out: “The credibility of institutions depends upon their conduct, which must be in accordance with the constitutional framework. We should strengthen them and their ability to take corrective actions, whenever required. There should be no effort, consciously or otherwise, that will lead to the erosion of institutional credibility and authority.”

The President, while pointing out that Parliament represented people from all parts of the country and a broad spectrum of political thought, said: “Its legislation is an outcome of collective thinking and application of minds. Many path-breaking laws have been made by Parliament of our country. New laws will also be formulated by legislative bodies. There can be discussions, debates, discourses among the people of the country for public opinion to emerge, which is an essential input in a true democracy.”

She was of the view that opinions should be voiced through elected representatives for formulation of necessary legislation and “we should not not forget that we have to preserve the democratic values of our country and, for this, healthy conventions of parliamentary procedures should be upheld.”

She said corruption was a cancer affecting the nation’s political, economic, cultural and social life and it was necessary to eliminate it.

“The government, Parliament, judiciary and society at large should ponder about this,” she said while suggesting that it would require preventive and punitive measures as well as adoption of rational approaches.

The President said the country’s Constitution had served well. “The institutions created by it -- the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary -- have been stable and have achieved much. The separation of powers, the elaborate system of checks and balances, have given our country a governance structure in which equilibrium is maintained, when every institution respects the field of responsibility of the others.”

New Delhi, August 14
Three doctors of the Army have been conferred with the Sena Medal for their acts of bravery in thwarting a terrorist attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul last year. Their names figure on the list of around 200 gallantry awards announced by the President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil on the eve of Independence Day today.

The award winners include members of the armed forces, the central paramilitary forces and state police forces.

Lieut-Col Sanjiv Kumar Kakkar, Major Sumit Arora and Major Sibashish Metia, all doctors at the hospitals being run for civilians in Afghanistan, have been awarded for their bravery shown during an attack on the residential complex “Hamid guest house” on February 26 last year.

Paediatrician Col Kakkar was unarmed as he rushed into a hail of bullets to take on the terrorists and herded his colleagues to safety. He suffered serious burns and splinter injuries in the right leg.

Major Sumit Arora, a medical specialist on deputation to the Indian Medical Mission Kabul, was faced with enemy action when a terrorist lobbed a grenade at his room, thus setting it on fire. Major Arora, unarmed and trapped inside the room, jumped through a window. He sustained severe burns and splinter injuries all over his body, but continued to look after his colleagues and provided them with emergency medical care till medical help arrived. In the meantime, late Major L Jyotin Singh has neutralised the terrorists.

Major Sibashish Metia, posted as a surgeon at Kabul, was trapped in a room that was on fire along with four team members, including two English teachers. He opened the burning doors with bare hands, suffering severe burn injuries to both hands, face, chest and lung injury. He was able to save the lives of three members.

The President has approved 137 Gallantry Awards for the armed forces. These include 14 Shaurya Chakras, three of them posthumously and one of them is to CRPF constable Ashish Tewari. Lieut Commander Firdaus Mogul of the Indian Navy has been awarded for saving the lives of six sailors at high seas. He lost his life in the process.

Others awards are: Three Bar to Sena Medals for Gallantry, 114 Sena Medals for Gallantry, three Nao Sena Medals for gallantry and three Vayu Sena Medals for Gallantry.

Apart from this, 930 personnel have been awarded police medals. The President’s Police Medals for Gallantry have been awarded to seven personnel, Police Medals for Gallantry to 95 personnel, President’s Police Medals for Distinguished Service to 93 personnel and Police Medals for Meritorious Service to 735 personnel.

Out of the seven PPMG awardees three are from the BSF - Constable Vishnu Puri, Constable Anup Das and Constable Bajrangi (both posthumous). One policeman each from West Bengal, Karnataka, Assam and J&K has been awarded the PPMG. The awardee from J&K is Sub inspector Shiv
Krishan.

Chandigarh, August 14
In a proactive move to reduce litigation, the Army Headquarters (AHQ) has asked all army commands to ensure that contested litigation concerning retired personnel are withdrawn where the issue involved is well settled by previous judgements.

The Adjutant General’s (AG) branch at AHQ has issued directives to officers in charge of litigation at the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) and the High Courts that cases involving settled legal position in the favour of veterans should not be contested in courts since it results in unnecessary financial strain on former defence personnel as well as the Union of India.

Sources said this is for the first time that such orders have been issued. The AG’s branch has also issued specific direction to its officers that cases where medical board recommendations in favour of disabled personnel have been wrongly overruled by administrative authorities should not be contested and should be withdrawn.

The AG’s branch has also directed that cases should also not be contested where individuals with non-service related disabilities are medially boarded out with a little less than 10 years of service which is the minimum qualifying service required for invalid pension in cases of disabilities which are neither attributable to nor aggravated by service conditions.

The AG’s branch has further sensitised military authorities that individuals with non-service related disabilities should not be boarded out if they are nearing the minimum service limit of 10 years for earning an invalid pension. There is no minimum service requirement however to earn disability pension in cases with attributable or aggravated disabilities.

A large number of veterans have welcomed the AG’s directives. In recent times objections were raised by many veterans’ organisations on the tendency of the Defence Ministry of appealing against all pensionary decisions rendered by Courts in favour of defence veterans. “The directions issued by the AG is salutary move that is in line with the National Litigation Policy and which would reduce the burden on poor litigants as well as the courts, leaving time for more complex matters to be litigated,” Maj Navdeep Singh, President of the AFT Bar Association said.

The courts are flooded with pension related litigation, with disability pension claims forming the bulk. While the military authorities per se try to be helpful to disabled personnel, most of the litigation is directed towards non-adherence of rules by medical boards while determining attributability or aggravation of disabilities and towards the CDA authorities whom veterans say are insensitive to the problems of former soldiers.

New Delhi, August 14
Defence Minister AK Antony today asked the armed forces to “uphold the trust of the nation”. A few cases of corruption in the armed forces have come to light recently and this has created “a somewhat negative impact on the image in the public eye”, he said while reminding them that it was the responsibility of each one of them to perform their tasks “with complete devotion, fairness, honesty and truthfulness”.

In his customary broadcast over All-India Radio on the eve of the 65th Independence Day, Antony said modernisation of our armed forces was “top priority for the government”.

The Defence Minister assured that the government wants all-round development of defence forces and the jawans. “An improvement in the quantity and the quality of rations, clothing and equipment has been brought about. Pointing out that he has realised the hardships and challenges that the troops face during his visits to the forward post in J&K, Northeast, Rajasthan and Gujarat, Antony said the DRDO has designed insulated shelters that would provide medical aid and help save lives.”

Along with this, we have issued instructions to accelerate work on the Married Accommodation Project”, Antony told the forces. The radio broadcast is transmitted throughout the country.

Lauding the role of ex-servicemen and underlining their welfare was a priority for the government, the Defence Minister said their pension related problems are being addressed and amenities are being expanded. Antony said: “I have appealed to all the states to provide more employment opportunities to ex-servicemen at all levels”.

Commending the armed forces for their exemplary performance in the Commonwealth Games and lauding the three women of the Indian Air Force who scaled Mount Everest recently, Antony said: “We will try our best to open up more and more avenues for women in armed forces to provide them more opportunities”.

New Delhi, August 14
At a time when India is celebrating its Independence Day, a research paper
has shown that the much-acclaimed freedom fighter Shaheed Bhagat Singh was illegally detained, tried
and executed.

Bhagat Singh, along with Shivram Rajguru and Sukhdev, was sentenced to death on July 2, 1930, after a trial held by a special tribunal under ordinance No. 3 of 1930 issued by the then Governor General of India. They had been charged with the murder of Assistant Superintendent of Police JP Saunders.

The trial was a departure from the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) under which it should have been conducted by a sessions court and not by a special tribunal, claims the research paper brought out by Dr Nafis Ahmad Siddiqui, an advocate at the Supreme Court.

Another lacuna was the fact that the special tribunal conducted the proceedings without the accused being present at the trial and passed the death sentence ex parte. Further, the tribunal had issued the warrant of execution of the death sentence without any confirmation from the Lahore High Court.

The execution could not be held on October 27, 1930, as scheduled as the then Punjab Government had suspended it after the convicts had sought the Privy Council’s permission for challenging the sentence. In view of this, the warrant expired, rendering even the continued detention of Bhagat Singh and others illegal, Siddiqui contends.

One Chint Ram Thapur filed a criminal miscellaneous petition (No. 36 of 1931) in the Lahore HC seeking the release of Bhagat Singh and others in the light of the expiry of the warrant. Even the special tribunal had ceased to exist and the jail authorities were not in a position to execute the death sentence in the absence of a fresh warrant. Any fresh warrant could have been issued only by the tribunal, but it was no longer in existence, the petition had contended.

Though the HC dismissed the petition, it observed that the warrant of execution must have been legally issued. Following this, another “illegality” was committed by the Governor of Punjab by approaching the Lahore HC for the issue of a fresh warrant. The HC issued a warrant for the execution of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev which was carried out on March 23, 1931.

This warrant issued by the HC Registrar was “illegal and without authority and without jurisdiction” and as such the execution of Bhagat Singh and others “was not in accordance with the law and it was a clear case of judicial murder,” says the research paper.

The British Government should tender an unconditional apology and pay adequate compensation to the family members of Bhagat Singh and others, the researcher concluded.

Violations of law

Trial conducted by special tribunal violating CrPC and IPC

Accused absent at trial; sentence passed ex parte

Warrant of execution of death sentence issued without confirmation from Lahore High Court

HC, beyond its jurisdiction, issued fresh warrant after the previous one had expired and the tribunal had been disbanded

While the exact nature of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's medical condition remains a mystery, even ten days after she underwent a surgery abroad, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar does not shy away from talking about his ailment.

The NCP chief recounts in detail about how he was detected with oral cancer in the run-up to the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and how he wasted no time in undergo a surgery which was followed by over forty sessions of radiotherapy. The doctors had advised him to stagger the radiations sessions but Pawar would do nothing of it: he did not want to linger over his treatment and wanted to go through it at the earliest. At one stage, he recalls, the doctor even told him that he may not live for more than six months. Unfazed with this declaration, the Maratha strongman instead turned around and told the doctor, "Don't worry, I will be attending your funeral." All this and much more will be revealed in Pawar's memoirs on which work is on at present.

Big B stumped

Used to being cheered by adoring fans, superstar Amitabh Bachchan was in for a shock at a recent function held in the Capital to promote Prakash Jha's latest film, "Aarakshan". Bachchan was left floundering for words when he was asked if he supported reservations for minorities. He sought to get away by giving a non-committal answer but a student in the audience would not let it pass. Taking the mike, he told Bachchan that his fans expected an iconic figure like him to have a definite view on such a subject. A speechless Bachchan was further mortified when the questioner was cheered loudly by the audience, largely consisting of college students.

Ego bashing

When a MP from Chhattisgarh, who was escorting a group of visitors from his constituency around Parliament House, approached BJP leader Arun Jaitley recently, the latter assumed they wanted to meet him. Jaitley instructed his staff to make sure there were enough chairs in his room to accommodate the group. His ego, however, took a hit when he was told that the visitors were not interested in meeting him but wanted him to arrange a tour of Ferozshah Kotla Grounds for them. Jaitley did the needful but turned down the DDCA staff's offer to host a lunch for the visitors and instructed that instead the visitors be served tea.

Guwahati, August 14
The prices of essentials have hit the roof and scarcity of fuel and medicines have crippled life in Manipur, which has been hit hard by another bout of blockade of arterial NH 39 and NH 53 by the Kuki tribe organisations demanding a separate district comprising the Sadar Hills areas in the Naga tribe-dominated Senapati district of the state.

The Kuki tribe organisations began the blockade of the two highways from July 31 and have threatened to go on with the stir till August 31, demanding a positive response from Manipur state.

Most of the fuel stations in Manipur have reportedly run out of stock due to the blockade, while the chemists’ association has requested the government for permission to ferry consignments through air cargo.

Lucknow, August 14
The people’s representatives sitting in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly are also not above board. Due to delayed submission of proposals by them, a sum of Rs 385.58 crore of their development funds remained unspent in the Personal Ledger Account (PLA) at the close of each financial year.

The report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (Civil) for the year ended March 31, 2010, tabled in the Vidhan Sabha strongly criticises the implementation of the Vidhan Mandal Kshetriya Vikas Nidhi.

Under this nidhi, each of the 504 MLAs and MLC (405+100) of Uttar Pradesh gets Rs 1.25 crore each every year to address the locally felt needs of the people of their constituencies.

Due to the delay in recommending projects the pace of utilisation of funds was lethargic leading to the huge accumulation in the PLA at the end of each financial year.

The performance audit of the nidhi covering the period 2005-10 during which Rs 2,716.99 crore was spent had sanctioned works that did not exclusively relate to the locally felt needs.

Out of Rs 815.56 crore 82 per cent (Rs 669.02 crore) were spent on roads and building of schools giving little emphasis to sectors like health, drinking water or sanitation. Seven constituencies ate up cent per cent of their funds in construction of school buildings.

The CAG report censures the over-enthusiasm of the legislators to dole out money to schools breaking all rules.

“Ownership of the land belonging to a registered society for construction of a school building is a pre-requisite. However, scrutiny revealed that Rs 1.28 crore was sanctioned during 2003-10 to seven societies in Etah and Jhansi districts, which did not owe any land for construction of schools buildings,” notes the report.

There are also a large number of cases of inadmissible, irregular and non-durable projects.

For instance a model drawing had been prepared for the construction of “barat ghars, rain baseras and yatri sheds”. However, test checks in 10 districts shows that such model drawings were not prepared. Around 359 barat ghars, rain baseras and yatri sheds were constructed during 2005-10 at the cost of Rs 9.90 crore ignoring the set standards.

The CAG report notes that assets created under the fund were not handed over to the user agency or local bodies for maintenance and upkeep.

In 18 of the 72 districts alone of the 46,906 projects sanctioned during 2005-10 about 32.17 per cent of the projects costing around Rs 461.71 crore had not been handed over to the local bodies.

New Delhi, August 14
The Supreme Court has ruled that owners of forest land were entitled to compensation under the Kumaun and Uttarakhand Zamidari Abolition and Land Reforms (KUZALR) Act, 1960, even if they were not earning any income from that.

“A law seeking to acquire private property for public purpose cannot say that no compensation would be paid,” a five-member Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia held in a verdict.

The apex court made the ruling while partly allowing an appeal filed by Rajiv Sarin and another who owned 1,600 acres of land in Beni Tal Fee Simple Estate, situated in Pargana Chandpur in Karan Prayag Taluk of Chamoli district in Uttarakhand. The state government acquired the land on December 21, 1977, under the KUZALR Act without paying any compensation as the owners had not shown any income from the forest area.

“The present case is a case of payment of no compensation at all. In the case at hand, the forest land which was vested in the state by operation of law cannot be said to be non-productive or unproductive by any stretch of imagination. The property in question was definitely a productive asset,” the Bench observed. The other Judges on the Bench were Justices MK Sharma, KS Radhakrishnan, Swatanter Kumar and Anil R Dave.

The court directed the Assistant Collector concerned to determine and award the compensation to the appellants by following “a reasonable and intelligible criterion” stipulated under the SC guidelines. The petitioners would also be entitled to interest at the rate of 6 per cent a year on the compensation amount from the date of dispossession till the date of payment.

The SC further clarified that the interest would be payable only from the date of actual possession of the property and not from the date of vesting. It also explained that there was a clear distinction between a situation where there was no income because the forest was not exploited and there was no income despite exploitation.

PN Sarin had acquired the proprietary right in the estate in 1945 and Rajiv and the other petitioner had succeeded the property in 1976 following his death. The Bench delivered the 54-page verdict on August 9.

Hyderabad, August 14
For YSR Congress Party President and India’s richest MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, caught in the eye of a storm over his alleged illegal assets, here is some good news.
According to the “State of the Nation” poll, commissioned by English news channel CNN-IBN, Jagan is way ahead of his rivals in Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra regions of Andhra Pradesh, which together account for 175 seats in the 294-member State Assembly.

If the elections were to be held now, Jagan’s fledgling party is expected to garner 36 per cent of the votes in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions. The ruling Congress will be in the second position with 32 per cent of vote share while the main opposition Telugu Desam Party is ranked poor third with 24 per cent votes.

The poll, conducted by the Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), shows that Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is the undisputed leader in Telangana region. It is expected to get 36 per cent vote share in the region followed by Congress 18 and TDP 15 per cent. The YSR Congress is likely to get 7 per cent vote share in Telangana region.

The opinion survey covered 20,854 respondents across 20 states. In Andhra Pradesh, 1,418 people were interviewed for the purpose.

The ruling Congress has lost considerable support in the Telangana region compared to 2009 elections. On the other hand, the support for TRS has increased three-fold. In Seemandhra region, the Congress is in the second position behind YSR Congress Party which has made impressive inroads into the traditional vote banks of Congress and TDP. The merger of actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party with Congress does not appear to be helping the ruling party much, the survey said.

The political space left behind by the PRP appears to have been taken over by YSR Congress Party.

New Delhi, August 14
To tackle the menace of birds flying around its bases and putting the fighter aircraft in danger, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is now looking out for procuring sophisticated radars to monitor bird activity as an integral part of its flight safety procedure.

Besides monitoring their movement, the avian radars will help in studying the flying pattern of birds at different hours of the day.

“Avian radars help in locating, tracking and monitoring movements of birds. These radars are used as an integral part of flight safety procedure,” an IAF official said here today.

The IAF has an ornithology cell under the Directorate of Aerospace Safety to reduce bird hit cases and the cell has completed bird survey at 28 flying bases.

“While monitoring bird activity, we have to look at various aspects.

The pattern of bird movement and their flight schedule varies as per the terrain. Birds are more active at a low altitude during sunrise and sunset when they go out in search of food and come back to their nests respectively,” the official said.

Apart from studying their flying habits, the avian radars will help in collecting data on other aspects such the height, numbers and density of birds in a particular area.

These radars would help the IAF's bird watching teams in specifying their areas of activity and density. It will help in ensuring there is no bird movement in the flight path of an aircraft during its take off and landing.

The data collected with the help of these radars would be further analysed at the ornithology cell.
— PTI

Kolkata, August 14
Cornered politically over the arrest of Sushanta Ghose, a former minister and a powerful party leader in West Midnapore, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) now wants other Left parties to come forward and launch a massive agitation against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

But the leaders of the three major Left front partners - Forward Bloc, RSP and CPI - made it clear that they would not side with the CPM on Ghose’s arrest, though they were fighting jointly with the CPM on price rise, Lokpal Bill, 2G spectrum and the UPA’s other anti-people policies in which TMC has been a partner.

Both the former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the CPM party secretary Biman Bose had alleged that Ghose had been falsely implicated in an old incident and that the arrest was politically motivated.

Bhattacharjee alleged after Mamata took over as Chief Minister, leaders and workers of the CPM and other Left front partners had been tortured, harassed and arrested.

He exhorted the Left parties to unite and launch a massive statewide agitation against the Chief Minister’s misuse of power and the police against her rival political parties.

Veteran leader Ashoke Ghose, however, appreciated Mamata’s attempts at solving the Maoist problem, the Darjeeling crisis and other issues which they could not solve during their 34-year rule. But he claimed that the workers and supporters of Left parties were being attacked and tortured by the TMC and Congress workers and the administration was keeping mum.

He asked the CPM leadership to take appropriate legal steps to prove Ghose’s innocence instead of asking other parties to launch a stir against his arrest. RSP leader Kshiti Goswami also felt that the CPM should fight the case alone and not involve other parties in it.

Though the case against Sushanta Ghose is old, the charge of Ghose’s involvement appears quite substantial.

According to official sources, the former minister had been arrested on the charge of killing of seven TMC workers on September 22, 2002, at Benachapra village near Garbeta and hiding the bodies in a jungle near his home in the village there.

At that time, an FIR was lodged with the Garbeta thana against 20 CPM workers including the minister. But the police did not proceed in the case at the instance of the CPM leadership at Alimuddin Street.

However, after the recovery of bodies of two TMC workers - Raju Singh and Ajoy Acharya, the case was re-opened by the CID. Ghose is now in police custody as per the court’s order and is being interrogated at the CID headquarters at Bhabani Bhaban at
Alipore.

Lucknow, August 14
The Uttar Pradesh state Assembly has passed a Bill to do away with the provision which allowed people to seek restoration of their acquired land if it remained unused for more than five years.

The Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2011 was passed in the Vidhan Sabha on Thursday minutes before it was adjourned sine die amidst a din due to a face-off between BSP and SP members over the question of the removal of tainted minister Avadhpal Singh.

Till now sub-section (1) in Section 17 of the existing Act provided a person from whom land was acquired to apply to the state government for the restoration of the said land if it was not put to the proposed use after a lapse of five years.

The amendment passed on the last day of the monsoon session comes amidst growing instances of farmers wanting their land back particularly in Noida and its adjoining region due to a number of projects not taking off or getting stalled. The amendment now empowers the government to keep the unused land as long as it wants.

Incidentally, while the Bill was being passed in the Vidhan Sabha, farmers from Gautam Buddha Nagar’s Nithari, Chaura Sadarpur and Morna were filing a petition in the Allahabad High Court to get back their land acquired in 1976.

The farmers from these villages want around 1,500 bighas of unused land acquired for urbanisation to be returned to them. The HC admitted the petition and fixed August 17 for hearing the case along with other petitions challenging land acquisition.

The new amendment is also contrary to the UPA-II government’s proposed land acquisition and rehabilitation law.

Raipur, August 14
An alert was sounded across Chhattisgarh Sunday and security strengthened as the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) threatened to disrupt Independence Day functions Monday, police said.

Security forces moved into the interiors of the restive Bastar region in the southern tip of the state.

"The forces have been put on maximum alert in all five districts of Bastar besides Raipur, Dhamtari and Rajnandgaon districts," a senior police officer told IANS.

Units of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) have been deployed in the urban areas including this state capital.

The venue of the main function here Monday - the police parade ground where Chief Minister Raman Singh will hoist the tricolour - has been handed over to the ATS.

The entry and exit points of Raipur city have been sealed.

Maoists have put up banners and distributed leaflets in the jungle areas of Bastar region asking the people to stay away from the Independence Day functions, reports said.

The lone passenger train between Jagdalpur, the headquarters of Bastar region, and Kirandul in iron ore-rich Dantewada district was cancelled Sunday and Monday by the East Coast Railway.

Bastar is made up of Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar and Kanker districts.
— IANS

Chandigarh, August 14
The Border Security Force, the only Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) under the home ministry to have an air wing, is refurbishing its Mi-17 helicopters for VIP use.
The upgradation of the helicopters into VIP configuration includes retrofitting a few executive “Maharaja class” seats with folding dining table as are used by airlines, additional less luxurious airline type seats both with and without tables, wall to wall carpeting and internal trimmings.

The BSF has six recently procured Russian Mi-17V helicopters in its inventory.

Sources in the BSF said that through three Mi-17V choppers will be refurbished for VIP use initially, the cabins all six helicopters would be suitably modified to accommodate VIP seats and other fitments. “We would like that the internal fitments of the choppers are interchangeable so that any of the six choppers can be deployed for VIP duties,” an officer said.

Besides the Mi-17s, the BSF has eight HAL-made Dhruv helicopters and some fixed wing aircraft, including a Brazilian Embraer-135, two US Beechcraft King Air and a couple of aging HS-748 Avros. Besides VIP transport, some of its helicopters are also deployed in anti-naxal operations. Helicopters are used for troop deployment, communication and casualty evacuation.

The BSF air wing has, in the past, faced some problems with shortage of pilots and aircrew. Most of the pilots with the BSF were on deputation from the Air Force or those who retired from the armed forces. Later, the BSF also started recruiting its own pilots.

The home ministry is also planning to augment the strength of the air wing in light of the BSF’s operational requirements and border guarding commitments as well as increased internal security deployments. According to reports, the government is planning to acquire at least 20 more helicopters and four fixed-wing aircraft over the next five years. This would also reduce BSF’s dependence on the air force.